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Resolutions versus Intentions — My New Year’s Commitment
Aim for your goals by listening to yourself
Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, I’ve committed myself to Daily Intentions. Rather than making a long list of most-likely unachievable goals once a year, I believe I’m more effective by setting an intention every day, whether it be big or small.
Resolution versus Intention
First, let’s define the terms “resolution” and “intention.”
Oxford Languages defines a resolution as a firm decision. An intention is an aim, plan, or goal.
Can you feel the difference? A resolution is stuck in stone, final, unchanging. It doesn’t leave room for error.
An intention is something to aim for. It leaves room for adjustment and course correction. It’s breathable. Intentions are still goals, but they’re more flexible. Like life.
Daily Intentions
I meditate every morning for fifteen to twenty minutes. Whether I’m “good” at it isn’t important, having quiet time with myself is. It’s time to slow down and catch my thoughts, and a space to set positive intentions for the day.
I aim for one or perhaps two smaller goals a day, not a huge world-changing To Do list like I’ve done in the past with New Year’s resolutions. They can be something simple like, “I’ll clean the kitchen” or a little more involved like, “I’ll do my best to stop and breathe before I react to something” (like Santa Fe drivers who sometimes drive ten — or twenty! — miles under the speed limit…).
How to Set Intentions
How to set intentions is actually quite simple. The hardest part is remembering to set them and keeping them in mind. This is my method:
Meditate
There are no “good” or “bad” meditations. If my mind’s really active, I just go with my thoughts. If I’m calmer, I’ll try to sink into the space between the thoughts. What matters is sitting with yourself. I wrote an earlier article called “…
